ObamaCare's New Theory of Employment

The amazing defense of job losses caused by the Affordable Care Act.

WSJ editorial, 2-6-14. Excerpts:

"some of the giddier liberals even extol ObamaCare for "liberating" workers from the adult responsibility of earning a living.

Supposedly this shrinking labor force development is great news because "this is a choice on the part of workers," as White House chief economist Jason Furman put it. If businesses shed jobs in response to ObamaCare, he said, that would be bad because people who wanted work would have a harder time finding it.

But CBO's lost workers are splendid, Mr. Furman argued, because it means they will simply be making a rational decision to drop out or cut back, and "that, in their case, might be a better choice and a better option than what they had before." Liberals cite the 60-year-old who can retire early before qualifying for Medicare or the second-income spouse who quits to spend time with her kids."

"For years liberals have lamented the jobs crisis and underemployment to castigate Republicans as mean-spirited for opposing more "stimulus" and more weeks of unemployment benefits."

"The 2.5 million worker ObamaCare job exodus, CBO estimates, translates into a 1.5% to 2% reduction in the total number of hours worked, which means less growth."

"Mr. Furman cited the phenomenon known as "job lock," in which people don't switch employers or start their own business to preserve fringe benefits. But job lock is really about employment flexibility, rather than the government extending subsidies so people don't need or want jobs."